Where's Jackson Emery when you need him?


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PROVO — BYU basketball's Tyler Haws has been scorching the nets at an incredible rate in his junior season. He has put up some jaw-dropping games for the Cougars this year and has appeared to be nearly unstoppable at times. Through 21 games, Haws has scored at least 20 points in 14 games, at least 30 points on six different occasions and dropped a career-high 48 against Portland last week. His scoring propensity has drawn comparisons to BYU's most recent legend, Jimmer Fredette.

Tyler Haws
Tyler Haws

On many levels, the comparisons are valid. Through 21 games, Haws' numbers are actually slightly better than the numbers of "The Jimmer" in his junior season. Haws is averaging 24.2 points a game while shooting above 47 percent on his field goals, 46 percent from 3-point land and 87 percent from the charity stripe. In his junior year, Fredette averaged 22.1 points a game while converting on 46 percent of his shots, 44 percent from downtown and 89 percent of his free-throws.

Jimmer Fredette
Jimmer Fredette

The similarities go beyond statistics, however. Haws plays a similar style to what Cougar fans saw out of Fredette during his tenure in Provo. Haws is a dynamic jump shooter who also has the ability to get to the rim and make tough shots. Despite his high quantity of shots, often against the opponents' best defender and double-teams, Haws is remarkably efficient as a scorer and is nearly automatic from the free-throw line. While he is incredible on the offensive side of the ball, Haws is unspectacular as a defender. All of these characteristics could be used to describe Fredette. Though, it must be noted, Fredette’s range may never be seen in Provo or at the college level in general ever again. Also, Haws’ name cannot be turned into a verb like Jimmer’s was.

Besides individual style of play, Haws has a similar supporting cast to what Fredette had in his junior season. Both players played for coach Dave Rose in his fast-paced offensive system. Haws has a talented but young and foul-plagued big man in Eric Mika (Fredette had Brandon Davies). Haws has a player who can be equally electric and befuddling in Matt Carlino (Fredette had Jonathan Tavernari). Haws has a high-energy power forward in Nate Austin, who is mostly counted on for rebounds and occasionally knocking down open shots (Fredette had Noah Hartsock). Fredette had one supporting player, though, that Haws has nothing akin to: Jackson Emery.

Jackson Emery
Jackson Emery

During his collegiate career, Jackson Emery was a lock-down perimeter defender. He was generally assigned to holding the other team’s best guard in check. Led by Emery’s terrific defense, the 2009-10 Cougar basketball team only gave up 66.4 points a game. Emery’s defensive disruptiveness allowed Fredette to focus his energies on the offensive side of the court. With Emery picking up the slack on the defensive end, it rarely mattered that Fredette did not play great defense.

In contrast, the 2013-14 BYU defense is allowing opponents to score a ghastly 79.6 points per contest. Teams are converting on nearly two more 3-point attempts per game this season than they did against BYU in 2009-10. It is becoming routine for opposing guards to put up career best games against this year’s squad. BYU’s zone defense has been downright brittle at times during the season, and the Cougars have managed to lose games in which they scored 88, 96 (twice) and 110 points.

The discrepancy in defense is perhaps the primary explaining difference between a team that won 30 games and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and this year’s squad, which is becoming more of a long-shot to win 20 games and will probably require a WCC tournament championship to avoid being invited to the NIT for the second year in a row. While the nation was being “Jimmered” back in 2009-10 after his 49-point outburst against Arizona, Jackson Emery was almost, if not equally, as responsible for the team’s success.

As all Cougar fans know, the dynamic duo of Fredette and Emery teamed up again in the 2010-11 season to have one of the best seasons in BYU basketball history. If Haws can find a running mate to shut down opposing offenses, the 2013-14 and 2014-15 years may be special as well. If not, however, it is likely that the Cougs and their fans will have to again settle for NIT mediocrity. Dylan Cannon is a KSL.com contributor and can be reached at his Twitter account @DylanCannon11.

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